D-Day veterans recount memories, honor their past in Grantville

In the hell that was D-Day, the men of LST 138 had one of the U.S. Navy’s vital jobs — ferrying troops, supplies and artillery to the sands of Normandy’s beaches.

Completed missions meant lives saved. One mistake, like failing to dock close enough to shore and dumping men and equipment into the roiling English Channel, meant disaster.

Those young men, who risked their lives during one of World War II’s defining moments, have grown older now.

As the stories of those known as the Greatest Generation fade into the black and white past, the veterans of LST 138 are making sure their memories and their sacrifice lives on.

For the 26th year in a row, the men of LST 138, their wives and children, met Saturday night for a reunion.

The dinner at the Holiday Inn outside Grantville capped a long weekend of honors for the nine veterans and two veterans widows who were able to make the trip.

In addition to their reunion, the group was honored Friday by the Penbrook American Legion, Post 730.

They’ve vowed to keep having these get-togethers as long as someone’s willing to show up.

"It’s been a good thing for us," George Burkland, of New York, said. "It’s a good outlet. Up until (the reunions started), we didn’t talk about it. But when you’re with these guys, who were there, you can."

Ed Bruml, of Arizona, was a lieutenant and navigator during the historic landing.

"Do you know how difficult it was to navigate?" he said. "My orders were, ‘Follow the ship ahead of you, but don’t get too close.’ We landed on Juno Beach. It was a sea of ships, a sea of blood, too. Over on Omaha and Utah, the Germans were up on the tall cliffs, firing down into them."

Bruml said they unloaded their first cargo — Canadian troops, trucks and artillery — before heading back for the next shipment.

Eventually, the tide went out and the LST 138 was "high and dry" on a sandbar.

"I wasn’t much worried," Bruml said. "It was only the Luftwaffe coming over and strafing us. Thank God they missed us."

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